Konec starych casu
Czechoslovakia,
1989, 97 min
Shown in 1990
CREDITS
- dir
-
Jiri Menzel
- scr
-
Jiri Blazek, Jiri Menzel
- cam
-
Jaromir Sofr
- editor
-
Jiri Brozek
- cast
-
Josef Abrhám, Marián Labuda, Jaromir Hanzlik
- source
-
International Film Exchange, 210 West 52nd St., New York, NY 10019, USA, FAX: 212-956-2257
- premiere
-
U.S. Premiere
-
COMMENTS
Recipient of the Akira Kurosawa Award; Jiri Menzel in attendance. Film was screened with Larks on a String.
OTHER
With his latest film, Jiri Menzel takes us to a time not so long ago but worlds away, to a beautifully appointed country estate in Southern Bohemia after the First World War. The End of Old Times recounts the sudden arrival and fortuitous adventures of the mysterious Duke Alexey Magalrogov. With valet in tow, the aristocrat cuts an elegant figure amidst the hunting party gathering: the "lord" of the manor, a man daunted by the details of etiquette and insistent on ale with each meal; his precocious daughter and her feeble suitors, a priggish dandy and a callow youth; the librarian with his penchant for claret and upstairs-downstairs hanky-panky; and an assortment of pretentious guests. Through chivalry, humor and outrageous action, the duke galvanizes the hearts, imaginations… and libidinal longings of this household of society wannabe's. But his "Old World" ways (especially with the ladies) are definitely out of synch with the other men, a cadre of newly-moneyed business types. Before long, the Duke realizes his welcome has worn thin. In his second adaptation of novelist Vladislav Vancura (Capricious Summer), Menzel blends social satire with a period of nostalgia to gently lampoon a class unaware it was singing its swan song. Like Rules of the Game and Fanny and Alexander, The End of Old Times embraces a rich ensemble of characters to create an utterly engaging universe. Beautifully shot by Jaromir Sofr, this soufflé of a comedy exalts the sight gag, romance and the free spirit.
—Laura Thielen
FACTOID #88
Steve Cochran, the American actor who starred in Michelangelo Antonioni’s 1957 SFIFF entry Il Grido, demanded a private screening of the film before it could be shown to Festival audiences so he could ensure that scenes that had been censored in Italy had not been cut from the print. Cochran, who had American distribution rights to the film, got a screening’delaying the film’s 8:30 start time for ticketholders.
